How we cite our quotes: (Stanza.Line)
Quote #7
"Comrade, sir, you surmised quite correctly
That Ganelon betrayed us all;
He took gold and riches and pieces of silver.
The Emperor will surely avenge us well.
King Marsile made a deal for our lives,
But he shall have to dispute them with swords." (90.1146-51)
This is one of Roland's biggest aha! moments. Ten stanzas before he was telling Oliver off for suspecting Ganelon of anything out of line. Now he finally realizes that Marsile's army didn't just randomly catch up with them in the mountain pass and wallop them into pieces. Ganelon's deception is behind it all. What's more, Roland's emphasis that Ganelon did it for "god and riches and pieces of silver" links him directly with Judas Iscariot in the New Testament, who betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver.
Quote #8
"Vile Frenchmen, today you are going to close with our men.
The one who was supposed to protect you has betrayed you:
The king who left you in the pass is contemptible." (93.1191-93)
The pagan who shouts this is reversing the narrative. Instead of calling out Ganelon's treachery, he accuses Charlemagne of betraying them. True, he didn't negotiate an elaborately deceptive scheme with Blancandrin and Marsile, but he is betraying his duty as a king: his duty to protect them. By leaving them alone in the pass, he has given them to death. But Charlemagne didn't know Marsile was going to attack! you cry in defense. But what about those dreams, hmmmm? Could this pagan be speaking with a grain of truth?
Quote #9
Ganelon replies: "There's no battle!
You're old now, you're grizzled and white-haired,
Yet such words make you seem a child.
You know Roland's great folly perfectly well,
It's a wonder God suffers him so […]
He sounds his horn all day long for a mere hare.
He's showing off now before his peers,
No force on earth would dare challenge him in the field.
Ride on! Why are you stopping?
The Fatherland is very far ahead of us." (134.1770-74, 1780-4)
Dude, enough already. Roland and Oliver know you betrayed them. Charlemagne and his knights hear the oliphant and know it means the rearguard's in hot water. But Ganelon won't drop the ruse. He insists that there is no battle and that Roland is only blowing his horn to show off. Notice how Ganelon uses every opportunity to blacken Roland's name to Charlemagne. Not only is Roland not hurt; he's also arrogant as heck.